From Jess Irvine:
Florists, photographers and wedding celebrants are among the army of small businesses set to enjoy a billion-dollar plus boost when tens of thousands of same sex couples are finally allowed to walk down the aisle.
According to ANZ senior economist Cherelle Murphy, the economic benefits of marriage equality related to weddings alone would be $650 million in the first 12 months.
That is a conservative estimate, assuming only half the gay couples who want to wed manage to do so within 12 months.
According to the 2016 Census, there were nearly 47,000 same-sex couples living together in Australia.
A 2010 study by the University of Queensland found half of such couples would choose to marry, if possible.
That gives a total marrying pool of around 24,000 gay couples. Assuming an average wedding spend of $54,000, that yields total spending of $1.3 million.
This would deliver a huge boost to Australia’s $6.3 billion wedding industry, Ms Murphy predicts.
It all helps. But if you want to unleash consumption why not discuss the class war instead? The 0.2% rise in wages that was expected but did not materialise yesterday reduced potential spending by $1bn. Indeed, every 1% rise in Australian wages adds $5.1bn in potential spending to the economy.
I don’t mind a bit of identity politics. It works for the forces of good. But not at the expense of the Left fighting the class war.
